


You Said Someday

by RaaorQtpbpdy



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: But the Character was Dead the Whole Time so Idk if it Really Counts?, Dialogue Heavy, Emotional Conversations, Get Stuff off His Chest, Hikaru Really Bottled Everything Up in Canon, M/M, Married Couple, Mentions of Canonical Character Death, Post-Canon, So I Thought He Should Get the Chance to Share, ya know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:47:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24248281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaaorQtpbpdy/pseuds/RaaorQtpbpdy
Summary: Years later, Hikaru finally tells Akira the whole story.
Relationships: Shindou Hikaru/Touya Akira
Comments: 9
Kudos: 88





	You Said Someday

"Greatest go player, living or dead, huh?" Akira repeated thoughtfully. "I'd like to say my father, but truthfully I believe that title still belongs to Honinbo Shusaku. Though maybe not for much longer." In his peripheral vision he saw Hikaru walk past the open doorway and thought to get his opinion. "Hikaru!" he called.

A moment later, Hikaru reappeared in the doorway and immediately leapt to his own defense. "What? I was gonna wait for you, but you looked busy so I thought I'd wait downstairs."

"Oh, no, he just asked me who the greatest go player was, alive or dead," Akira waved a hand dismissively. "I said Shusaku, but I was curious if you agree. What do you think?" Hikaru said nothing for a long moment. He stared down at his feet. When his answer finally came, his voice was certain, but more quiet than Akira had ever heard it.

"Fujiwara no Sai," he said. Akira's eyes widened.

"Sai?" he breathed. "Hikaru—"

"I'll wait downstairs," he said, then left so that the interview could continue.

"What did he say?" the interviewer asked. "I didn't hear."

"He said 'Fujiwara no Sai' but I wouldn't put that in your article if I were you."

"I've never heard of a Fujiwara no Sai. Do you know who that is."

"Perhaps... I'm not certain, but if it is who I think it is, then I believe Hikaru may be right. I'll have to ask him about it later." 

—

The two chatted like they normally did as they headed home, but Hikaru seemed more withdrawn than usual, and Akira couldn't help but think it had something to do with what he'd said earlier, when Akira had dragged him into his interview to get his opinion. When they arrived at home, they took off their shoes, put away their things, and Hikaru took a seat on his side of their go board, but Akira remained standing. 

"Akira? Is something wrong?" Hikaru asked. 

"I could ask you the same thing." 

"Huh? What do you mean?" 

Akira seated himself on his side of the go board, but made no move to put down his first black stone. "Who is Fujiwara no Sai? Is he the same Sai that defeated my father and me on the internet? I thought that was you, but... you just seem off today, and I can't help but think it has something to do with that interview I dragged you into... with him." 

Hikaru said nothing, only stared at the go board. Akira sighed and placed the first stone. Hikaru had played black during their last match, and they alternated every time they played, unless it was an official match and the stones were assigned. The game that followed was amazing as always. When they had first started playing regular games against each other at the go salon Akira's father owned, they always ended up bickering, but those games all improved their play, and now, they hardly ever had negative things to say about each other's games. 

They were two of the top go players in the country now, with two titles a piece, Akira with Meijin and Oza, Hikaru with Honinbo and Kisei and they were fighting for the Judan and Tengen titles this year. At this point, they were about even for wins and losses against each other. They were rivals after all, and that meant they were pretty much evenly matched. There were some days, however, when Hikaru played so intensely, with such incredible skill, and amazing ingenuity, that Akira saw the spirit of Sai, and was utterly and completely overpowered and outplayed. Today was one of those days. 

"Your game was exquisite today," Akira said after he resigned. Hikaru didn't respond, only collected the stones and scooped them into their container. "You know you can talk to me about things other than go from time to time, Hikaru. You can tell me if something's bothering you." 

"It's May fifth." 

"Is there something significant about today? It's not your birthday, or our anniversary... it isn't right? No, that just happened a few months ago." Akira frowned in thought, trying to come up with any reason why May fifth might be important to Hikaru. Then it finally came to him. "That was the day you stopped playing go, back when you first went pro. Your last official game before two months of losing by default was May fifth." Hikaru stood up and went to the kitchen. 

"I can't believe you still don't eat lunch during matches," he said. "I've told you before that it's a really unhealthy habit, but you never listen. If I didn't make you eat a big dinner afterwards, you'd be all skin and bone, and even though I do, you're still so thin." 

"When you came back after those two months, you never told anybody why you'd left," Akira continued. "Did something happen on May fifth that made you want to stop playing?" Hikaru started a batch of rice in the rice cooker. "You said that you'd tell me the whole story someday. Please Hikaru. What happened on May fifth?" 

"I lost..." Hikaru trailed off and groaned, rubbing his hands in his hair in frustration. He still had never spoken to anyone about Sai, his closest friend for over two years. 

"You won your match that day..." Akira said uncertainly. He was pretty sure that was right, but Hikaru seemed so distressed, and he wasn't sure what to do about it. 

"No! I mean, yes! I won the match. I lost... I lost Sai." He sat down heavily on a stool by the kitchen bar. 

"I thought _you_ were Sai..." Akira said gently, sitting next to him. Hikaru stared at the table, refusing to look at Akira, even while he was trying to meet Hikaru's eyes. "Please, Hikaru, explain it to me." 

"You won't believe me." 

"Try me." When Akira said those words, he resolved not to doubt anything that Hikaru told him, no matter how unbelievable. That was the only way he would get an answer. 

"He... he taught me how to play go, and he and I played each other every night, and then he just disappeared." 

"Disappeared?" 

"I don't know why. I thought he'd be around forever, but..."

"No one lives forever..."

"No you don't understand he... he was... already dead when I met him..." 

"You're right, I don't understand." Akira placed his hand of Hikaru's, which was clenched on his lap. "But I'd like to, if you want to talk about it." 

"Just a little bit before I first met you, I was in my Grandfather's attic when I found an old go board, but, the board happened to have a ghost in it, and that ghost attached himself to me. That ghost was Sai." Hikaru's voice was watery, but got steadily stronger as he spoke. It seemed to Akira that Hikaru really needed this, so he kept silent and listened, despite all his budding questions. 

"Sai was a go instructor at the imperial palace a thousand years ago, but the other instructor at the palace said that the emperor didn't need two teachers, and that they should play a game of go to determine who would stay and teach at the palace. The other instructor cheated, then accused Sai of cheating, and Sai was so distressed that he ended up losing, and then two days later..." Hikaru's face scrunched up. He apparently didn't like this part. Akira tightened his grip on his hand reassuringly, urging him to continue. 

"Sai didn't have any other skills and now with his reputation tarnished... he ended up throwing himself in the river and drowning, but he still really wanted to keep playing go, so his spirit attached itself to a go board, and he waited there for someone who could see him, so he could play go again." Hikaru stopped for a moment, though Akira was sure that wasn't the end of the story. 

"And that person was you?" he prompted, but Hikaru shook his head.

"No, first he was found by a guy named Torajiro almost a hundred and fifty years ago." 

"Torajiro? Why does that name sound familiar?" 

"Because that was Honinbo Shusaku's name before he changed it," Hikaru said, as though he'd been waiting for the question, and Akira's eyes widened in surprise. "Sai convinced Torajiro to let him play go, and with Sai's skills, Torajiro became a pro player. He became the best there ever was with Sai playing all his games for him. But then he died of an epidemic, and Sai got trapped in the go board again. Hundred and forty years later, I found that go board in grandpa's attic. Two days after that, Sai helped me with a history test, and in exchange, I took him to a go salon, where he played you." 

"So... the first game I played against you, I was actually playing against... a ghost?" Akira asked, though he didn't mean to sound in any way doubtful. "And further more that ghost was... not Honinbo Shusaku, but the genius behind him, the one who actually earned him the reputation as the greatest go player in history?" 

"Look, I know it's far fetched, but it's true," Hikaru defended. "The first two times you played me, you were actually playing against Sai. The third time, in the middle school tournament, that was the first time you actually played against me. I let Sai play the first few moves, because I knew that you never really wanted to play against me, but you wanted so badly to play against Sai. In the end, though, I wanted to test my _own_ skill against yours, but you were really disappointed. I'm sorry." 

"You don't need to apologize, tell me more." 

"You don't have to pretend you believe me. I know how ridiculous it sounds." 

"I believe you, Hikaru." Finally, Hikaru met Akira's eyes. "Keep going." 

"I was still learning at that point, and Sai said I was 'showing promise,' and 'improving a lot,' but I still wasn't too good yet. Over that summer, I discovered that we could play go over the internet, and since it was anonymous, I let Sai play as many internet games as my schedule allowed. We didn't know at the time, but his skill caused some commotion. We learned that after he beat you at an online game and then you came to confront me little later. I had to stop letting him play online after that because he was drawing too much attention, and also school.

"After that summer, I buckled down and focused on improving my own game. I played with the people in my go club, and learned as much as I could. I managed to become an insei, and I started playing Sai ever single day after school. Since I wanted to be a pro based on my own skill, I wouldn't let Sai play except against me, and once or twice when there weren't any stakes involved, until after the exam, when I was supposed to play your father. Sai really really wanted to play for me, but I didn't want anyone to get suspicious. Finally, I let him play only if he agreed to a fifteen point handicap."

"That's why you played that game so recklessly, and why my father said he wanted to play you in an even game afterwards," Akira realized. 

"Then after your father went to the hospital and started playing go online, I set up a game between him and Sai. They both wanted it, even though your dad thought he wanted to play _me_. Your dad said that if he lost to Sai, he'd retire, and then he did. Nobody could figure out why he would retire. I was the only one who knew of the promise he made." Hikaru frowned at the countertop again, and he looked like he was on the verge of tears. 

"When I got home after my official game on May fifth, all I wanted was to go to bed, but Sai pestered me into playing a game of go with him. He seemed really desperate for some reason, and I didn't know why, but then halfway through the game... he just disappeared. He had been with me every moment for years by that point, and he was my closest friend, and I didn't know what to do. I looked everywhere for him, and I mean _everywhere_. 

"I looked at the go board in my grandpa's attic, and I went to every place even remotely related to Torajiro, and I checked the go association twice, and I looked at the game records from when he played for Torajiro, but no matter where or how hard I looked, I couldn't find him. I thought maybe, if I didn't play go at all, he might come back, and then I'd let him play all of my games to makeup for insisting on playing for myself. 

"For two months, I skipped all of my games. I refused to play anyone from my old go club, I avoided my insei friends, and didn't go to any go salons. I even pushed my own go board into the corner for the first time since I got it, and let it collect dust. I didn't replay old games, I didn't try any life or death problems. I went to my old go club's tournament for a few minutes, but I ran when the administrator from Kaio saw me. 

"Then Isumi got back from China, where he'd been studying go, and he came to my house. When I heard someone up in my room, I thought Sai might've come back, but I was wrong. Isumi talked me into playing one more game with him. I refused at first, because I thought if I played, I would never see Sai again, but when I gave in, I realized that playing go was the only way I could see him again. He was gone, but part of him was still in me. That's what you saw the next time we played each other that convinced you that I was Sai, because I am now, sort of. That's the other spirit you see in me when we play sometimes."

"That's Fujiwara no Sai? The man you said is the greatest go player, living or dead?" 

"Yeah." A tear dropped to the countertop, and Hikaru took a shaky breath. He had finally started to cry, though Akira knew he'd been holding back tears the whole time he'd been speaking. "Do you actually believe me?" 

"I do," Akira assured him, wrapping his arms around Hikaru. "It may sound like a fairy tale, but it explains a lot, and besides that, I trust you, Hikaru. I don't think you'd lie to me, especially about something that's clearly very close to your heart." Hikaru hugged him back tightly, and they stayed there for a moment until they were interrupted by the beep of the rice cooker. 

"I've gotta feed you now, huh?" Hikaru muttered. 

"You don't have to do that," Akira disagreed. "We can stay here for a while." 

"No, I'm doing it. You don't get to skip lunch _and_ dinner. You're gonna end up malnourished and then I'm gonna be really angry at you, so let me go. I'm heating up leftover curry, and you're gonna eat two portions!" 

"Nooo," Akira whined, squeezing tighter. "You know I don't have enough appetite for that. I'll burst!" 

"Too bad!" Hikaru squirmed, attempting to pry Akira's arms off of him. "That's what you get for skipping lunch during matches. If you don't like it, then take better care of yourself." 

"I shoulda found someone who wouldn't meddle so much."

"Too late!" Hikaru finally managed to escape and stuck his tongue out very childishly. "You already married _me_. No take-backs!" 

**Author's Note:**

> Some interviewer: So you two are rivals, is that right?
> 
> Hikaru: Yes, rivals with benefits.
> 
> Interviewer *confused but intrigued*: Oh? What kind of benefits?
> 
> Akira, without missing a beat: Tax benefits.
> 
> Interviewer: I don't understand.
> 
> Hikaru: *holds up Akira's left hand with his own to reveal a matching set of wedding bands* We're married. 
> 
> Lmao, anyway, I watched this entire show in three days, and I only watched it in the first place because I wanted to see how a Go-st (get it? 'Cause he's a go playing ghost? A go-st! Haha!) was gonna stretch for seventy five episodes, and then I ended up absolutely adoring Sai, so there ya go. Anyway, Hikaru went the entire duration of the show without telling anyone about Sai, and I needed him to do that, so I wrote it. Comment if you feel like it, Kudos if you're glad Sai died. Love y'all!
> 
> <3 Raaor!


End file.
